Nostos
by ViscountessKiera
Summary: Lantis reflects one night on how a certain redhead not only saved Cephio but saved him as well. First person pov, a sort of introspective piece. One-shot.


**An:** Hello my lovely readers. This story was partly written becase I don't think Lantis is ever given the time of day he deserves so this is my story for him and I was listing to a song by Tim McGraw and it inspired me sometime around last December and I just now got around to writing the thing. So please enjoy it. By the way Nostos literaly means 'homecoming' in Greek as it is used in Homeric epics like The Illiad and The Odyssey. If you are a reader of Ice and Snow don't worry I'm working on it. Now we may begin.

**Nostos**

_After so long being frozen it took awhile to thaw me out  
I spent too long not knowing what love's supposed to be about  
Now I'm finding out:  
It's a lot like coming home from a long time walking out in the snow.  
Then I looked at you and knew I never knew nothin' and it broke this heart of stone  
It's a lot like comin' home_

When I left Autozam and returned to Cephiro I don't know what I had expected to feel. The loss of my brother and the pain at the fate of the Princess yes, but I thought maybe after they had passed somethingI'd lost long before their deaths would return to me. This strange nostalgic longing I had become more and more aware of as their relationship began to accumulate into the inescapable summoning of the Magic Knights.

This feeling was a great part of the reasoning behind my leaving of Cephiro to travel to other countries.

Yes, it is true I had left because I knew what was going to happen, I knew most likely my brother would die and the Princess, if not then all of Cephiro would instead. I didn't want to be a part of that looming battle, I couldn't. I knew I couldn't fight my brother or go against the will of the Princess. At the time I had felt trapped, in some great cosmic tug of war between my heart and my duty, neither of which I could ignore.

So I left.

Perhaps it wasn't the best of reasons.

Maybe it was the worst of reasons…

But then it really wasn't the only reason…

No, it wasn't even my main reason.

That feeling I'd lost somewhere in-between the realization that Zagoto and the Princess were in love and the time I left them to their chosen fate, that feeling of belonging, of being…

…home.

That sense that I was of Cephiro, that feeling of ease that comes from being somewhere you know you belong. It had been that yearning more than anything that drove me to search the cosmos for something, something that at the time seemed so intangible.

For a time I felt like I'd found part of that in Autozam, with Eagle and Geo, even Zazu, but still it nagged at me. A subtle yet constant tug that never gave me the peace I desired and after a time I realized I'd never find that peace unless I returned to Cephiro to try and claim that feeling I'd lost there.

Even after returning I still couldn't find it and it didn't really matter the cold shoulders I was given, it didn't matter that many suspicious fingers were pointed my way. I thought if I could just end this, end the Pillar system, that it would all come back to me.

If I lived, and at the time I doubted I would, I had every intention of returning to Autozam in hopes that if this did end my yearning I could find a new place to call home.

But all of that changed upon my chance encounter with a strange and boyish, yet beautiful young woman.

Perhaps it wasn't chance at all, maybe the Creator sent Hikaru plummeting down onto the Master Mage's creature once more to not only save Cephiro but save myself as well.

Said redhead now stretched her small frame in her sleep, sprawled out on my bed as if she owned it and had not a care in the world, or two worlds for that matter.

I lifted my arm, careful not to wake her, and lightly slid a wispy strand of hair away from her eyes. The corner of her mouth turned up in a slight smile and she settled back into a deeper sleep.

I don't think she'll ever realize that she saved me, that I even needed saving.

Eagle's always understood my feelings on the matter. I've spoken to him about it on occasion during his recovery. In part though him I came to understand more completely just how Hikaru gave me back that feeling I'd lost with Zagoto and Princess Emeraude.

I think it was in the garden by the fountain when I first felt it, even if I didn't completely realize it at the time.

I take a deep breath and lean my head back against my headboard.

Loving Hikaru has given me back that sense of belonging I'd lost. It was a strange feeling at first I didn't realize until later just exactly what to compare it to.

Loving her is like…

Well it's a lot like coming home.


End file.
